Vegetarian Manchurian with Stir Fried Noodles

Food and me have had a love hate relationship for as long as I can remember. Being sick in my early years will do that. For years I only ate Indian food and Indian food that was cooked at its blandest best by my mom. She did a fantastic job of cooking food for me that the rest of the family used to refuse to eat! Hard to imagine, making Indian food so bland. But I remember it as being delicious. But, I could never eat out or had any desire to eat any different foods. I ate to live.

The last years have changed dramatically for me. I can eat anything I want without getting sick. That doesn’t however mean that I will eat anything. Quite the opposite actually. My first reaction to anything familiar is still a big fat ‘no’. So when Soe of Lime and Cilantro asked me if I wanted to take part in his Noodleholicsparty, my spontaneous reaction in my head was again a no. You have no idea how much I frustrate myself when I do that still!

I am so excited to not only be part of this party but I can’t wait to see the other creations by the amazing bloggers Soe chose to be part of this fantastic idea! Find below a list of all that took part linking back to their creations so you can enjoy each one.

So, I thought about it and I thought what an amazing opportunity to make something I had never tried before. And, to make something that I wouldn’t be able to resist myself. 🙂

Indian Chinese food is famous in India. It is even sold as fast food on street corners. I have seen this, but up until now, never had the desire to try it. So thank you Soe, for challenging me to step out of my comfort zone. Love you for it.

Indian Chinese as its name suggests, is created to suit Indian palates. And it is delicious. So delicious!

I have created a vegetarian manchurian with four different veggies, carrots, green beans, bean sprouts and cabbage. I added an amazing new ingredients, moong dal flour and cilantro wasabi soya sauce. I’d never used the moong dal flour before but it was amazing in bringing the veggie meatballs together and the soya sauce was so flavourful!

My baby girl loved this recipe! And I have to say I was pretty satisfied too. So here it is, try it and be supremely satisfied yourselves. 🙂

To make the meatballs, add all the ingredients except salt and water, mix and sprinkle the water a little at a time. The consistency should be not too dry nor too runny. Add salt just before you make and mix. The balls should be smooth and soft yet firm enough so that they do not fall apart. Add 1-2 tablespoon of flour if you are in doubt.

Heat enough oil to deep fry and wet your hands, make small lemon size balls and deep fry in hot oil. Cook in medium flame to ensure even cooking. Do not make the balls too large or else the inside won't cook properly. Deep fry until dark golden colour.

Drain on a paper towel and keep aside.

To make the gravy, heat oil in a heavy bottom pan on medium heat. Once warm add in ginger garlic and sautee for a minute. Add in the onions, bell pepper. Sautee for another minute or two. Add in the all the other ingredients except the water and pepper. Cook for a minute. Now add in the 1 cup of water, pepper and let the gravy come to a simmer. Meantime, in a bowl whisk the rice flour with ½ cup of water. Once the gravy starts simmering, add in the prepared rice flour slowly by one hand and whisking the gravy with a spoon by another hand until incorporated well .

The gravy will start to thicken within a minute. Switch off the flame. Add salt if needed.

Just before serving warm up the gravy and add the Manchurian balls to it. Serve piping hot with the stir fried noodles.

You have made the food look so stunning, I can just take a print out and eat it and will still get the flavours out of it in my mouth 🙂 I wish I could sample some of it thought. And this happens to be one of my favourite take-away food, Veg Manchurian and Fried Rice to go with it, made desi-chinese style. I am a big time foodie so all the beautiful food shots you take are literally (food)porn to me 😀

I work in Dubai as a graphic designer and work with a few restaurants from time to time and I hope that someday we get to do work together on a nice menu project perhaps. Cheers.

About Me

Hi my name is Rakhee! I’m Indian, lived in the US and then moved to The Netherlands (hence the sari clad lady on the bike!) I am a graphic designer/ photographer and boxofspice is the space where I bring the two together. [Read more...]